t’s so strange about it?” The girl answered: “Well you don’t know any kungfu, and you came here all by yourself, then you are bound to be bullied by these bad people. Why did you come here?”

Duan Yu was just about to answer when footsteps interrupted him. Gan GuangHao and Gong GuangJie just came rushing back into the atrium.

By now, Gong GuangJie has put on another pair of pants, although he still hasn’t put a shirt back on yet. Both of them have a look of panic on their faces. Walking up to Zuo ZiMu, Gan GuangHao reported: “Master, Divine Farmer Clan is gathered on the mountain top facing ours. They have blocked every path and say that no one is allowed to pass. We saw that the enemies are here en masse, without specific orders from our master, we did not dare to start fighting.” Zuo ZiMu nodded: “Mm, how many of them were there?” Gan GuangHao replied: “Around 70 or 80.” Zuo ZiMu let out a little sneer: “70 or 80, and they want to exterminate No Measure Sword? I’m afraid it might not be that easy.”

Gong GuangJie held up a letter: “They have shot this arrow up with this letter attached to it.”

Zuo ZiMu glanced at it, seeing that the envelope read: “Written To: Zuo ZiMu.” He did not feel like touching the letter, so he commanded: “Open it up and see what it says.” Gong GuangJie opened the seal and took out the letter.

The young girl leaned over and whispered in Duan Yu’s ear: “That bad man that hit you is about to die.” Duan Yu was quite taken aback: “Really?” The girl whispered: “There is poison on the seal and the letter.” Duan Yu still can’t quite believe it: “You sure?”

Gong GuangJie started to read: “Divine Farmer Clan writing to Zuo…. the person reading this letter (he dared not to speak his master’s name out loud, so he stopped once he read “Zuo”). We give you 2 hours of time to cut off your own right hand, destroy all your swords and weapons, and give up the Sword Lake Palace. Or else not a dog of No Measure Sword would live.”

No Measure Sword West Faction’s leader ShuangQing snickered: “Who the hell do Divine Farm Clan think they are? Talking shit like that!”

Suddenly Gong GuangJie fell straight backwards. Gan GuangHao, who was standing beside him, automatically reacted by reaching down in trying to help him get up. Zuo ZiMu took two quick steps forward, placed a palm on his chest and lightly exerted some inner force, which shook Gan GuangHao back two steps. Zuo ZiMu shouted in the midst of the move: “Might be poison, don’t touch him!” Looking down, Gong GuangJie’s face twitched none stop, the hand that was holding the letter has already turned pitch black. His feet twitched a couple of times and then all movement stopped.

In such a short amount of time, No Measure Sword has lost two top fighters. Everyone present is struck dumb with shock and astonishment.

Duan Yu leans over and whispers: “Are you in Divine Farmer Clan?” The young girl angrily rebuked: “Pei! Of course not, why are you talking nonsense?” Duan Yu asked: “Then how did you know that there was poison on the letter?” The girl laughed and replied: “This kind of poison is kid’s play, you can spot it a mile away. The only people that they can get are the clueless ones.” Everyone in the atrium heard her last comment and all looked up. She is still sitting there eating the melon seeds, her feet still swinging back and forth.

Zuo ZiMu turns and inspected the letter in Gong GuangJie’s hand, he could not see anything out of the norm. He tilts his head and looked even closer, finally he see that both the seal and the letter has faint traces of phosphorescence. His heart went cold all of a sudden, turning around, he addressed the girl: “May we have the honor of knowing your name?” The girl replied: “My name? Can’t tell you. This is a secret of the highest degree, strictly on a ‘need to know’ basis.” Zuo ZiMu suppressed his anger and indignation with great effort, asked again: “Then who is your father? Which hero is your master?” The girl answered with a smile: “Hehe, I’m not falling for that. If I tell you who my dad is, then you would know my surname, and then could check up on who I am. My master is my mom. My mom’s name is even more top secret than mine, can’t tell ya.”

From her dialect, Zuo ZiMu can tell she’s definitely from inside of Yu Nan province, maybe even local. Thinking to himself: “In the martial world in Yu Nan, which pair of husband and wife that’s good at Qing Gong could be her parent?” The girl hasn’t fought yet, so he can’t make a call based on her techniques, so he turns to her again: “Miss, please come down so we can discuss this together. Divine Farmer Clan isn’t letting anyone through, probably will kill you too.”

The girl laughed and responded: “They won’t kill me, Divine Farmer Clan will only kill No Measure Sword’s people. I heard the news out there, so I came here in hopes of catching a good show. Old man with a beard, your sword skills are not bad, but you don’t know anything about poison, you can’t beat Divine Farmer Clan.”

Her last sentence hit the nail on the head. If only real kungfu is used, the 2 factions of No Measure Sword and the 8 or so guests here in the atrium might be able to take on Divine Farmer Clan. But nobody here understands a thing about poison, so the whole situation changes when poison is thrown in the equation.

The girl’s tone of voice seems to show that she is really looking forward to this, as if more of No Measure Sword dies the happier she’ll be. Zuo ZiMu could not help but sneer, asked: “What did miss hear out there?” He is used to giving orders and being insufferably arrogant, so he asked this question as if the young girl better answer with the greatest humility.

The girl suddenly asked out of nowhere: “Want some melon seeds?”

Zuo ZiMu’s face turned a slight purple, if it wasn’t because the enemies are at the gates, he would have snapped a long time ago. So he restrained himself with the greatest of effort and answered: “No!”

Naturally, Duan Yu cut in: “What kind of melon seeds are you eating? Laurel? Rose? Pine?” The girl replied: “Woah! What’s the big deal about melon seeds? Why have so many different kinds? I don’t know about all those kinds of melon seeds, but these are made my mom. She made them by frying gall bladders of snakes. Eating them improves your eyesight, want to give it a try?” She gave a handful to Duan Yu and continued: “People who aren’t used to them think they are somewhat bitter, but actually they taste really good.” Duan Yu didn’t want to go against her wishes, so he put one in his mouth. It is somewhat bitter, but there is a bit of spiciness to it with very sweet after-taste. Afterwards the back of his tongue feels clean and refreshed, so he picked up another one and put it in his mouth. He put all of the shells on the beam besides him, but the girl didn’t seem to care and just casually spits them out. The random falling shells has caused quite a few people below to get annoyed and move further away.

Zuo ZiMu asked again: “Miss, what did you hear out there? If you can tell us, I… I will be forever grateful.” Because he is the one in need, he tried to sound as polite as he can. The young girl asked in return: “The Divine Farmer Clan people talked about some ‘No Measure Jade Cliff’, what in the world is that?” Zuo ZiMu was taken aback for a moment, quickly recovered and replied: “‘No Measure Jade Cliff’? Do we have some precious jade or jade stone? Never heard of it before, Sister Xin, have you heard of this before?” Before ShuangQing could respond, the young girl cut in: “Of course she never heard of it before. Stop playing around as if I’m a kid, if you don’t want to say it, then don’t. Hmph! Not like I really care!”

A bit awkwardly, Zuo ZiMu continued: “Oh yeah, I think I know. Divine Farmer Clan was probably talking about this smooth cliff face of the White Dragon Peak in our No Measure Mountain. This rock is very smooth like a mirror, you can even make out individual hairs in the reflection. Some people say it is a big piece of jade, but in reality, it’s really nothing more than a really smooth and really clean piece of rock.”

The young girl replied: “Well if that’s all why didn’t you say it earlier? Then how did you and Divine Farmer Clan become enemies? Why would they not even allow a dog of No Measure Sword live?”

Zuo ZiMu sees that he can’t get anything out of the girl without first letting his secrets out. Because the urgentness of the situation and with all the outsiders present, he can’t very well grab the girl and force her to tell can he? He suggested: “Miss, please come down so I can tell you everything.” The girl’s feet continued to swing back and forth again: “If you are going to tell, what difference does it make if I come down? And I don’t believe more than half of what you say anyways. So go right ahead.”

Rage flashed on Zuo ZiMu’s face, but he quickly recovered and began: “Last year Divine Farmer Clan came to ask for access to our back mountains to collect some herbs and I refused. So they snuck in and ran into Brother Rong and a couple of disciples, who scolded the perpetrators for trespassing. They replied: “What is this place? The Imperial Gardens? Why can’t we come here? Did No Measure Sword buy up all of No Measure Mountain?” Words were exchanged and the conversation became very heated until they finally started fighting. Brother Rong did not hold anything back and killed two of them. That’s how it all started. Then on the banks of the Lan Cang River we two sides got together again, a couple more of lives were lost there.” The young nodded: “Oh, so that’s it? What kind of herbs were they looking for?” Zuo ZiMu replied: “I’m not quite sure which kind.”

The young girl triumphantly replied: “Figured you wouldn’t know. Since you have told me how all this got started, I should probably tell two things. That day I was out catching snakes for my marten Lightning…” Duan Yu cuts it: “Your marten’s name is Lightning?” The young girl answered: “Yeah, of course. When he gets going, isn’t he quick as lightning?” Duan Yu nodded in agreement: “That’s right! Lightning… such a good name!” Zuo ZiMu glared at Duan Yu for interrupting, but the girl is just getting to the important part and might get mad if he goes after Duan Yu, so he kept his mouth shut.

The young girl continued to talk to Duan Yu: “Lightning loves to eat poisonous snakes, he doesn’t eat anything else really. I had him since he was born, he’s four now. He only listens to me and nobody else, not even my parents. If I want him to frighten people then he would, if I tell him to bite he goes and do it. Such a good boy!” She reaches into her pouch with her left hand, petting the marten.

Duan Yu isn’t a complete fool: “Mr. Zuo is just as anxious as can be. Why don’t you tell him what he wants to know.”

The girl let out a little laugh, looked down at Zuo ZiMu, and continued: “So there I was hiding in the bushes searching for snakes, when a couple of men came walking by. One of them said: ‘This time, if we don’t kill all of No Measure Sword, take over No Measure Mountain and the Sword Lake Palace, all of our heads will be taking a nice little trip.’ I heard that there will be some fighting, figured it would be pretty interesting, so I kept on listening. They just stayed there chatting, saying something about orders from the Nimble Vulture Palace of Misty Peak to take over Sword Lake Palace and check up on ‘No Measure Jade Cliff’.”

As she said this, Zuo ZiMu and ShuangQing shot a look at one another at the same time.

The girl asked: “What exactly is Nimble Vulture Palace of Misty Peak? Why does Divine Farmer Clan listen to its command?” Zuo ZiMu replied: “This is the first time we have heard of the Nimble Vulture Palace of Misty Peak. We had no idea that Divine Farmer Clan was actually obeying orders when they were stirring up troubles with us.” Thinking that the Divine Farmer Clan would obey them, then that Misty Peak-whatever must be quite formidable. Of all the mountains and peaks in Yu Nan, Zuo ZiMu has never heard of one called Misty Peak. The more he thought about all of this the more worried he got.

The girl ate two more melon seeds before continuing: “So then one guy said: ‘If the herb Heaven’s Link of No Measure Mountain can cure the illness of our clan leader then we would gladly take on whatever hardships that may come our way to get our hands on it.’ Another guy sighed: “Only the Kid Elder of Heaven Mountain (Tian Shan Tong Lao) herself can cure this Life-Death Talisman that is in me. Heaven’s Link may have amazing healing powers, but I’m just hoping that it would ease some of the pain when this Life-Death Talisman breaks out, it really is worse than death itself when….’ They walked away and I can’t hear them anymore. Am I clear enough on what happened?”

Zuo ZiMu was deep in thought and did not answer. ShuangQing suggested: “Brother Zuo, Heaven’s Link is nothing special. If Si KongXuan (head of Divine Farmer Clan) want some to numb the pain, then why don’t you give him some and all would be solved?” Zuo ZiMu snapped back: “Like it would make a difference if we give them some Heaven’s Link? Didn’t you hear? They are after No Measure Mountain and the Sword Lake Palace!” ShuangQing hmphed at him again, but did not reply.

The girl put her right arm under Duan Yu’s armpits and said: “Going down?” Before Duan Yu could answer she’s already leapt off of the beam. Duan Yu just managed to let a little yelp out before he was in midair as well. The girl gently landed on the floor with Duan Yu, her left arm still around his right arm. She suggested: “Wonder what Divine Farmer Clan looks like? Let’s go outside and have a look.”

Zuo ZiMu jumped forth: “Hold on, I still have a couple of question I want to ask. You said that when the Life-Death Talisman on Si KongXuan breaks out, it is worse than death itself. What is Life-Death Talisman? And who is the Kid Elder of Heaven Mountain?”

The young girl replied: “First of all, I don’t know the answers to your questions. Second of all, with an attitude like that, even if I knew the answers I wouldn’t tell ya.”

At a crucial time like this, Zuo ZiMu really don’t want to make more enemies. But with the existence of No Measure Sword in jeopardy here, he can’t afford not to get to the bottom of all this. So he jumped in front of Duan Yu and the girl and said: “Miss, Divine Farmer Clan is right outside, if you go out and something unfortunate happens to you then my conscience will not let me live in peace.” The girl answered with a smile: “Why would you care since you didn’t really invite me here? Besides, you don’t even know my name, if Divine Farmer Clan kills me my parents can’t really blame it on you.” All the while she’s tugging on Duan Yu’s arm and walking towards the door.

Zuo ZiMu unsheathed the sword from his waist: “Miss, please stay.” The girl asked: “Using force now?” Zuo ZiMu replied: “I just want to get some clear answers regarding the questions I asked earlier.” The girl replied: “And if I don’t tell you? Are you going to kill me?” Zuo ZiMu replied: “Well you have left me with no choice.” He brought his sword up to chest level, blocking the exit of the two.

The girl turned to Duan Yu: “This old man wants to kill me, what do you think we should do?” Duan Yu flicked the fan in his hand, then answered: “Well, we should do whatever you think we should do.” The girl asked: “If he just stabs me and kills me, then what?” Duan Yu replied: “‘Share the blessings, share the hardships.’ Melon seeds we ate together, sword blades we take on together.” The young girl replied: “Now there’s a couple of good sentences. You are turning out to be quite a friend, I guess us meeting is not in vain after all. Let’s go.” She started to walk toward the door, as if the sinisterly green sword in Zuo ZiMu’s hand is not there.

The sword in Zuo ZiMu’s hand moved toward the left shoulder of the girl. He had no intentions of harming her really, just wanted to stop her from leaving.

The young girl tapped the pouch around her waist and hissed. Suddenly a white flash leapt out of the bag onto Zuo ZiMu’s right arm. Zuo ZiMu immediately tried to snatch it off with his hand. But the marten was just too quick for him; before he knew it, the marten has already bitten his wrist and jumped back into the girl’s pouch.

Zuo ZiMu let out a loud cry and let his sword drop to the floor. Feeling his right wrist go numb, he screamed: “Poison, poison! You… The little bastard marten has poison!” His left hand grabbing just above his right wrist, trying desperately to prevent the poison from spreading upwards.

The disciples of No Measure Sword East Faction scrambled up, three of them went to support their master, the rest of them all drew their swords and surrounded Duan Yu and the girl. Pointing their swords at the two of them, someone threatened: “Quickly hand over the cure, or else this girl will die a most horrible death.”

The girl laughed: “I don’t have any cure. But you guys just need to get some Heaven’s Link, fry it in some thick oil, then feed him a bowl and he should be alright. But within the next 6 hours, he is not allowed to move much, or else the poison goes straight to the heart, and that’s not good. What the hell do you guys think you are doing blocking my way? Want to give my marten a try?” As she said this she reached into her pouch and took out her marten. Holding the marten up in her right hand, she started to walk out with her left arm still around Duan Yu’s arm.

The disciples have all seen the sorry plight that their master is in, they know that with what little kungfu they have, there is no way they can avoid being bitten by the marten, much less catching it. So they all just stood there and watched the two of them walk out of the atrium.

All the guests that were invited saw the speed of the marten as well. Nobody walked out and tried to stop them.

The girl walked out shoulder to shoulder with Duan Yu. The disciples of No Measure Sword are either inside the atrium or just outside guarding against possible attacks. The two of them did not run into a single person since walking out of Sword Lake Palace.

The girl said quietly: “Lightning has ate upwards of thousands of poisonous snakes in his life, so his teeth are extremely poisonous. That old man that just got bit should have immediately chopped his arm off, if he waits just a couple of hours more, he would die within 8 days.” Duan Yu turned to her and asked: “But you said all he needed to do was drink a big bowl of soup made from Heaven’s Link?” The girl let out a little laugh and answered: “I was just messing with them. If I don’t, would they have let us out?” Duan Yu was quite taken aback by this: “Wait here for me for a moment while I go back and tell him.” The girl pulled him back: “Dummy, if you go back and tell them, do you think they would let us live? Lightning is really something, but he and I can’t hold them off if they all came at us. You said it yourself: ‘Melon seeds we ate together, sword blades we take on together.’ I can’t just ran away by myself and leave you here to die.”

Duan Yu scratched his head: “Then why don’t you just give him some cure?” The young girl replied: “Ay! What’s with all the fuss? They hit you and you are still this nice to them?” Duan Yu raised his hand and felt his cheek, he replied: “It was only one slap, and it stopped hurting a long time ago, so what’s the point in remembering it? Pity the person that hit me died, Mencius read: ‘A compassionate heart is the epitome of humanity.’ Buddha taught: Save one human life is better than the 7th level of enlightenment.’ Although Mr. Zuo was very malicious, he was still very polite towards you.”

That young girl let out a cute little laugh before replying: “At that time I had something that he wanted, of course he is going to be polite to me. I know you are talking for him so I can give him the cure, but I really don’t have it. Only my dad has the cure. Besides, soon there won’t be a dog left of No Measure Sword after Divine Farmer Clan gets through with them. By the time I get the cure from my dad and return, that Zuo ZiMu’s head won’t be attached to his neck anymore. At that point, I’m afraid it won’t make much of a difference whether or not he is poisoned.”

Duan Yu shook his head a bit, but decided to stop talking about the cure. The moon has just risen; under the moonlight, Duan Yu notices that the young girl’s face, which is white with faint signs of red, is even more tender and enchanting. He had to ask: “You couldn’t tell your name to that old man with a beard, but can you tell me?” The young girl smiled and answered: “My surname is Zhong, my mom and dad call me simply ‘Ling-Er” , so you can call me that too if you want to. Let’s go sit down over there on the hillside. So tell me, why in the world you came to No Measure Mountain.”

The two of them walked side by side toward the hillside to the northwest. Duan Yu started to talk as they walked: “I ran away from home, wandered all over the place. By the time I arrived in Pu Er I have ran out of money. I heard from people there that a Mr. Ma WuDe is very good to guests and visitors, so I went to visit him to get a couple of free meals. Just so happens he was about to leave to come to No Measure Mountain. I heard many times of No Measure Mountain’s beauty and serenity. So I decided to follow him here to check it out.” Zhong Ling nodded her head and asked: “So why did you run away from home?” Duan Yu replied: “My dad wanted to teach me kungfu, I didn’t want to learn. So he started to force me, so I had no choice but to run away.”

Zhong Ling stared at him in disbelief, sizing him up over and again. Still not quite believing him, she asked: “Why don’t you want to learn kungfu? Don’t want to put in the hard work?” Duan Yu replied: “I don’t care about putting in the hard work. It just doesn’t make any sense in my head to learn it. So I disobeyed my dad, so my dad got mad and got in an argument again with my mom….” Zhong Ling smiled: “Your mom is always taking your side and argues with your dad, right?” Duan Yu answered: “Of course!” Zhong Ling sighed: “My mom is the same.” She stared toward the west spellbound, as if looking at something very far away. After a long while, she asked: “Why doesn’t it make sense to you?”

Duan Yu replied: “I have been studying Buddhism since I was a kid. Dad even hired a teacher to come and teach me The Four Books and the Five Classics, as well as poetry, lyrics, songs, and prose. He also invited a very wise monk to come and teach me Buddhist scriptures. For the last 10 years, I have been taught that a follower of Confucianism should have a merciful heart, pushing himself to help others. In addition, a disciple of Buddha must not kill nor rage but should be merciful and benevolent in mind and action. Suddenly my dad wanted me to learn kungfu, to learn how to beat and kill people. Naturally, I felt it was wrong and didn’t listen. My dad and I debated and argued about this for 3 days and I still won’t listen. He had many of scripture quotes remembered wrong, and some of his interpretations were off too.” {Note: The Four Books are The Great Doctrine, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucious, and Mencius. The Five Classics are The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Changes, The Book of Rites, and The Spring and Autumn Annals.}

Zhong Ling added: “So your dad got really angry and beat you, right?”

Duan Yu shook his head: “My dad didn’t hit me at all. He just merely hit 2 pressure points on my body and in an instant it felt like there thousands and thousands of ants and mosquitoes biting down on me. My dad said: ‘How does it feel? I am your dad, so I’ll stop this after a bit, but what if I was your enemy, then you are in for a fate worse than death. Just try and see if you can kill yourself.’ At that time, I can’t even lift a finger, how was I suppose to commit suicide? Besides, I’m doing pretty good living, why would I want to kill myself? Afterwards my mom came and started to argue with my dad and my dad released my pressure points. The next day I ran away.”

Zhong Ling listened to all of this in disbelieve, suddenly she said rather loudly: “Your dad knows how to hit pressure points, not only that but it’s also one of the top kungfus in the world! Did he just stabbed somewhere on your body with on finger and then you couldn’t move and felt numb and itchy all over?” Duan Yu answered: “Yeah, what’s so strange about that?” Zhong Ling’s face is just full of shock and disbelief: “You asked me what’s so strange about that? You actually asked me what’s so strange about that?! People would be willing to kowtow to your dad 10000 times and beg for 10 or 20 years just to learn a fraction of your dad’s pressure point hitting kungfu. Yet you actually don’t want to learn it, of course it is strange!”

Duan Yu replied: “I really don’t see what’s the big deal about this pressure point hitting kungfu.” Zhong Ling sighed: “You must not say that. And you must not let others know about this!” Duan Yu asked: “Why?”

Zhong Ling answered: “You don’t know any kungfu and don’t understand anything about the martial world either do you? Your family’s pressure point hitting kungfu has no match in this world, it’s called ‘1 Yang Zhi’. Other people in this world, when they hear the phrase ‘1 Yang Zhi’, they almost drool in envy. If people knew your dad knows this, some of them probably would kidnap you and force your dad to exchange the manual for ‘1 Yang Zhi’ as ransom. Then what?”

Duan Yu scratched his head: “Didn’t even think about that. My dad will probably get really mad and go fight it out with them.” Zhong Ling said: “Right, most people wouldn’t dare to go fight against your family. But for the secrets of ‘1 Yang Zhi’, you never know. Besides, you are in their hands so that really makes the situation very difficult. Tell you what, don’t even tell people that your surname is Duan.”

Duan Yu replied: “There are tens of thousands of people with the surname of Duan in DaLi, I don’t think every single one of them knows this kungfu. Besides, if my surname is not Duan, then what is it?” Zhong Ling smiled: “Why don’t you just momentarily use mine?” Duan Yu smiled back: “That works, but you are going to have to call me ‘big brother’ now. How old are you?” Zhong Ling answered: “16! How about you?” Duan Yu replied: “I’m 3 years older than you.”

Zhong Ling plucked a piece of grass from the ground and slowly tore it to pieces. Suddenly she shook her head and said: “You actually turned down learning ‘1 Yang Zhi’! I still can’t believe that! You are lying to me aren’t you?”

Duan Yu laughed at that a bit, and replied: “You make it sound so marvelous and wonderful, but can it feed you and help you make a living? I say that your marten of yours, Lightning, is alot more formidable. I just don’t like the fact that he can kill with just merely a bite.” Zhong Ling sighed: “If he can’t kill with just a bite, then what good is he for?” Duan Yu replied: “You are such a young girl, why are you thinking about killing and fighting all the time?”

Zhong Ling asked: “You really don’t get it? Or are you just pulling my leg?” Duan Yu answered with a question of his own: “What do you mean?” Zhong Ling pointed to the east: “Look over there.”

Duan Yu looked over and sees about 10 or so clouds of greenish smoke coming from half way up the mountain that she was pointing to. But he can’t really figure out what that means.

Zhong Ling continued: “You don’t want to kill others. But others want to kill you. You aren’t going to just hand them your head on a platter are you? That smoke is coming from Divine Farmer Clan preparing their poison, which will soon be used against No Measure Sword. I don’t want to get involved with this mess, let’s try and get away from here.”

Duan Yu shook the fan in his hand: “This kind of fighting and quarreling in the martial world is getting more and more out of hand. Somebody in No Measure Sword killed someone in Divine Farmer Clan, but now Divine Farmer Clan got Rong ZiJu and Gong GuangJie, an eye for an eye, I say they are about even. Even if there are some injustice, they should go to the local magistrate and let them handle it, not just go out and kill! Does our DaLi not have laws anymore?”

Zhong Ling clicked her tongue 3 times and a bit of disdain and scorn shown up on her face. She replied: “From what you say, you would think that you are a relative of the king or some big shot official or something. We normal people aren’t going to listen to that.” She looked up at the sky for a bit, pointed to the southwest, and whispered: “We’ll wait until the moon goes behind a cloud, then we’ll sneak out in that direction. I don’t think the Divine Farmer Clan will catch us if we do that.” Duan Yu replied: “No! I’m going to go talk to their leader and tell him not to kill people just because he wants to.” Some pity surfaced in Zhong Ling’s eyes: “Big Brother, you really don’t understand how things work do you? Divine Farmer Clan is dark, evil, and mean. They are very good at using poison, you just saw how they killed 2 people back there. Let’s not cause more trouble and get out of here.” Duan Yu answered: “No! I’m going to have to get involved in this, if you are afraid, then just wait here for me.” He stood up and started walking to the east.

Zhong Ling waited until he has walked 10 yards or so, then she suddenly chased up to him, her right hand coming out aiming for his shoulder. Duan Yu heard the footsteps and was just about to turn around when she grabbed his right shoulder. Zhong Ling followed with a slight hook with her leg. Duan Yu couldn’t keep his balance and fell straight forward, his nose smashed against a rock and started to bleed. He hurriedly stood back up and angrily asked: “What the hell was that for? Damn that hurts!” Zhong Ling said: